Others remain skeptical of the broad AI sales pitch. The label is often used as an umbrella term for technologies that do not strictly qualify as artificially intelligent, they say. Northstream experts are unconvinced by a general vendor argument that 5G networks will be too complex to manage without AI. In that context, the technology is unlikely to be any kind of necessity for operators until there are billions of machine-based connections on 5G networks, says Lei Shi, an analyst with the company.